Vumile Lwana was elected as the new mayor of Makana Municipality in a nail biting secret ballot yesterday afternoon.
A packed council chamber greeted his victory with ululations and song as Lwana won the race for the mayoral chain by a single vote, beating Democratic Alliance chief whip Michael Whisson in an unprecedented set of circumstances.
Vumile Lwana was elected as the new mayor of Makana Municipality in a nail biting secret ballot yesterday afternoon.
A packed council chamber greeted his victory with ululations and song as Lwana won the race for the mayoral chain by a single vote, beating Democratic Alliance chief whip Michael Whisson in an unprecedented set of circumstances.
Lwana won the support of 12 of the 24 councillors, while Whisson received 11 votes with only one spoilt ballot. Whisson, who appeared to be overwhelmed by the peculiar turn of events, managed to secure seven votes from the ruling party to add to the four from his own.
Lwana wasted no time in announcing his decision to keep the mayoral committee he had inherited from his predecessor, Pumelelo Kate. He said the committee is a team of people that the municipality trusts to advise him. "For the team to work we need ward councillors, who in turn need us," he added. The Municipal Structures Act states that if the mayor resigns, the mayoral committee appointed by the mayor dissolves. The new mayor will be expected to appoint a new mayoral committee of five full-time councillors.
Lwana also said that his return to Makana is not about "being here" before but about the type of leadership he is bringing to it. While he expressed his gratitude to be back in Makana, he stressed that he will hold the reigns for less than two years before the 2011 local government elections. He added that part of his agenda is to "mobilise the municipality’s leadership to steer the municipality in a direction to deliver on its mandate.
"I want to forge a partnership with ward committees in order to ensure that the municipality delivers on its IDP [Integrated Development Plan]," he said.He said that he intends to address the "infrastructural decay" and enhance public participation in the municipal area. "While IDP is a blue print to others, but to us it is a working document," he said.
This follows hot on the heels of former mayor Pumelelo Kate’s resignation which came into effect on Wednesday. In his resignation letter to the ANC provincial leadership, Kate wrote that he was resigning in line with "a resolution taken by the regional working committee" but did not explain how this was arrived at.
Kate’s resignation was prompted by a motion of no confidence which was submitted by the ruling party’s caucus to the municipality. The motion was submitted after Kate had allegedly reneged on the terms of the "swop deal" which was meant to see him and Lwana swop offices.
According to the party’s regional secretary Lulamile "Ten-ten" Pikinini, Kate is to be redeployed in the Cacadu district council where Lwana was head of the council’s infrastructure portfolio committee. However, rumours have it that Kate would be heading for the Eastern Cape’s local government department to take up an official position. Kate is believed to be "close" to the newly-appointed local government MEC Sicelo Gqobana who is said to have "conjured something up for Kate".
